The Girl from the Unknown
by The Lady of Dragons
Summary: Eli has been taken prisoner by Dr. Blakk, his friends have turned Slugterra upside down and still they can't find him. A mysterious girl frees him and after that crazy things start happening. What ties does she have to the Shadow Clan? To Twist? What is her connection to the Shanes and the secrets they hold so dear? A destiny and a pair of ancient slugs. rates T for safety.
1. Chapter 1 - Prison Break

The Girl from the Unknown by The Lady of dragons

Prolog: It has been several months since Eli was captured, several months since his friends failed to save him, several months since he was thrown into a secret prison built just for him that only Dr. Blakk knows about, several months since he was placed into a trance of fear, one that left him paralyzed and unable to summon the courage to even lift a finger. A hollow ring-like collar around his neck, filled with dark water keeps him that way. So afraid of everything that he can't even sleep. His slugs are held somewhere else in the prison, in a very similar situation, Blakk decided against using them as ghouls, if they managed to escape somehow, the rest of the Shane gang might be able to find a healer slug to return them to normal and they could lead the others to Eli. He could not have that now could he? That is all about to change very soon…

Now that the dramatic intro is out of the way, let me start at the beginning:

Chapter 1 – Prison break

Part 1 – Capture

"We're almost to Lumino Cavern!" Eli shouted over his shoulder as the Shane gang rode through a small cavern on their way to answer a distress call from Lumino.

"Just over the bridge around the next corner and we should be there" Trixie shouted back

"Hey guys, something's not right here" shouted Kord

"What do you mean? Everything is fine, there is no need to worry" yelled Pronto

"That's part of the problem" replied Kord

"Now that you mention it, it is a little odd that we haven't been attacked yet" agreed Eli

"Maybe they have all just run away in fear from the magnificent Pronto!" the molenoid said

"Somehow I don't think so! Look!" said Trixie, pointing up ahead on the trail. At least a dozen of Blakk's men stood at the top of a hill, all armed and all pointing at the Eli and the others.

"Now things are starting to feel back on track!" yelled Eli, as he ran towards the men, whooping with excitement. This was what he lived for.

"Eli wait up, what are you doing!?" Trixie shouted after him

"Relax Trix, I'm just having a bit of fun that's all" he yelled back _**(lots of yelling in this part)**_

"Pronto does not want to be the one to point out the obvious, but shouldn't we be up there with him?" Pronto said to Kord and Trixie

"Yeah we should, but shouldn't they have fired a shot already?" Trixie said

"Hey you're right! This isn't like them" Kord said "Bro, get back here, something isn't right about all this!" he called after Eli

But Eli did not hear him, he was too busy firing his slugs at the men as they scattered. _Well that's odd_, he thought to himself, _they should have a least shot something at me by now._ And then it happened:

Five men jumped out from the bushes and shot Attacknet slugs (ghouled Arachnet slugs) at Eli, completely immobilizing him. He fell off of Lucky, even as his friends raced towards him. Someone else shot a slug at him, he could not see what kind it was but when it hit him, he felt pain and then began to fade blackness. The last thing he saw was Dr. Blakk standing over him laughing and his friends running towards him. He heard them shout his name, and then he blacked out…

Part 2 – A prisoner of your own mind

When Eli came to, he found himself in a small, grey, square room. He had shackles on his wrists and ankles, which all connected to a central chain several, inches thick that was attached to a metal ring in the floor. He felt something strange around his neck, and when he looked down he saw the edge of some strange collar. There were no laser bars in this cell, no windows, no way to tell where he was. The cell had one door; the only way to tell it was there was the outline of the frame, other than that there was nothing on this side of it. No handle, or lock, or even a knob. No way to open it from the inside. Suddenly a holographic video screen came on in front of Eli.

"Hello Eli" said Dr. Thaddius Blakk

"You think that you can keep me here Blakk?" asked Eli

"Dear boy, I don't think: I know. There is no way for you to escape on your own and there is no way anyone is coming to save you. I am the only person in all of Slugterra who knows where you are; you see there are no human guards in this prison. I had it built especially to hold you: the guards are androids and the whole thing is rigged to come down on top of you if you even set foot outside the door. I won't go into any more detail because you will soon be far to incapacitated to worry about anything else." he chuckled evilly

"What do you mean!? Tell me!" Eli shouted at the screen

"That ring around your neck? It is filled with dark water" Blakk told him

"Are you planning to make me work for you?" Eli asked

"No such thing boy, you would be far too much trouble than it is worth to make you serve me. That ring is going to keep you here and that is all I am going to say on the matter. Oh and have a nice nightmare" he told Eli, grinning maliciously.

With that the screen vanished and the sound of a blaster being loaded came from above Eli's head. He looked up and saw a Frightgeist being fired at him. He braced himself for the impact and when it hit him the visions began. He waited for them to subside when the effect of the slug wore off, but they did not subside. In fact they began getting worse, until it seemed like he was in a waking nightmare not just the distorted reality that the slugs usually induced. He stayed like that for weeks. He remained in that state for so long that he eventually slipped into a coma, his body shut down and his mind dragged him through horror after horror for several months. His friends searched for him everywhere, turning town after town upside down looking for him. They even went to Blakk's main base and blasted their way through it looking for Eli. They searched until they had nowhere left to look….

THE END

Just kidding! Let the story continue! That last bit was really intense though, from being hit with a slug, to waking nightmares, and then to a coma! I am such a drama queen

Part 3 – A Mysterious Liberator

Eli had been a prisoner for several months; all hope of finding him had been lost a long time ago. His friends still helped people where they could, but they stopped calling themselves the Shane gang. After all, what was a Shane gang without a Shane? Eli was still in his nightmare coma and Blakk had been surprisingly inactive: no doubt plotting the finer details of his conquest and some nefarious plan or other. Deep underground, where Blakk had cleverly hidden Eli's prison, another person snuck through the empty halls. She had already taken down all of the androids guarding the place and disabled the trigger that would have caused the whole place to collapse on top of her if she set off the alarms, not that she had any intention of doing so, and was now passing through the empty hallways, trying to avoid setting off any other traps or motion-detectors on her way to the control room.

"Alright Rebound" she whispered to the Speedstinger slug in her hand "I'm going to stick the jamming beacons on your head and all you have to do is touch the wall next to the cameras to get them to stick and put the video feed on a loop. Got it?" she asked her slug. The little creature nodded enthusiastically and chirped quietly. "Then let's do it" The girl grabbed her blaster and took careful aim, sizing up the angles of her shot. She fired the slug and was able to get it to ricochet properly to each of the cameras. She then dashed down the hall into the control room, scooping up her slug on her way in.

She sat down in the chair and studied to control panel before her. A Tazerling slug hopped onto her shoulder and chirped excitedly: it loved technology. "What do you say Volt?" Can you get me what I need?" she asked. Volt nodded and began to hop around the keys and buttons. The large screen instantly flared to life showing all sorts of data, including the video feed from the other parts of the prison. "There!" the girl hissed as her slug found the cameras to Eli's cell. He was out cold on the ground. "Alright Volt, can you get me the pass code to his cell door?" she asked encouragingly. Her slug chirped happily and jumped around the keys some more. Seconds later some digits and letters appeared on the screen. The girl punched them into a small device she was holding in her hand. "What about his slugs? They weren't in the room with him. Can you find them?" she asked. The Tazerling gave her a nod and found what she was looking for "Perfect" she said as she punched in the pass code for them too "One last thing" the girl said "I need you to put the cameras in the rest of the prison on loop" she told her slug. It nodded and hopped around again until the cameras were down.

She made her way to Eli's cell carefully, no sense in being too careful especially when Blakk was involved. Once she was there, she plugged her little device into the electronic locking system that secured the door and entered the pass code. The door slid open smoothly and she stepped inside. There he was: the hero of Slugterra, a prisoner of the cruelest mad man in the entire place. How sad it was to see someone so kind like that. She had heard of how he tried to help anyone who needed it, how he was kind to his slugs and was a great slinger. When she had been little, Blakk had come to her home cavern and attempted to destroy it so he could build something or other. Will Shane had protected them from Blakk; Eli's father had been a great man. She owed the Shanes more than she could ever repay, so helping Eli now was the least she could do, and besides it was the right thing to do. She bent down to him and tried to wake him up, but he would not move. "Eli wake up" she whispered loudly in his ear. Still nothing. One of her slugs crawled up onto her shoulder and tried to get her attention. "What is it medic" she asked her little healer slug _**(AN: Yeah I know cheesy name, just bear with me here ok?)**_ The slug pointed at the ring around his neck "You want me to take it off?" she asked, it chirped in the affirmative, and when she had, Medic began to jump trying to get her attention again "Do you think you can wake him up?" when medic nodded, the girl stood and loaded her blaster, then fired the healer slug at him.

Eli felt something, something different than the constant darkness that surrounded him. It felt like the darkness was weaker than usual and it felt like someone was calling to him. He tried to answer, but he was not strong enough to even make a sound. Then he felt something like cool water spread through him. It pushed all the darkness back, letting the light in. He felt his strength returning and opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was a girl his age, with long black hair and dark green eyes. She held a half raised blaster in her hand and was talking to someone he couldn't see.

"Did it work?" the girl asked the unknown person. Then Eli realized that she was talking to the slug in her hand. It looked like a healer slug.

He tried to ask her where he was, who she was and what they were doing here, wherever that was, but all that came out was a moan.

"I worked!" she exclaimed quietly "Hey, are you alright?" she asked him, bending down

"Owww..Wha..?" he tried again to ask what was going on, but again he only managed a groan.

"Can you stand?" she asked him. He gave up trying to talk and just nodded weakly. "Come on then, we need to get your slugs and get you all out of here" she said as she helped him up, supporting him when his legs wouldn't hold his weight. The two made their way down the halls of the prison to the room where Eli's slugs and gear was. "Wait here" she told him, and entered the room. He sat down against the wall outside trying to get his mind to function properly. A few moments later the sound of a blaster being fired came from the room and she walked our carrying his bandolier, his blaster, and a case full of his groggy slugs. She helped him put on his bandolier and his slugs hoped inside it. He put his blaster on its belt clip and looked at his dark haired rescuer for what to do next. "We need to get out of here. Follow me. I found your mecha in the upper levels and hid it outside with mine" she explained. She walked through the hallways and he followed her. They reached and elevator shortly, she punched in some sort of access code and the doors sprung open. They walked in and he felt it lurch upward as it moved up. When the doors opened he was confused for a moment because he saw more of the same hallways from before, then he remembered she had mentioned 'upper levels' and figured that was where they were. She led him through some more hallways and to a stair case that looked like the exit. He was about to sigh with relief and ask her what was going on, but she signaled him to remain silent. She walked slowly and carefully up the stairs, alert for any signs of danger or the enemy. When she was half way up she signaled for him to follow, and the two of the walked to the exit. She pushed the huge doors open just enough for them to pass through. They walked outside and Eli saw why no one had found him before now _**(AN: He is aware that he has been there for a long time because he was there for a while before Blakk shot him with the Nightgeist and because he was vaguely aware that time was passing when he was comatose)**_ if he had not come from the inside of the prison he would never have been able to tell it was even there, which begs the question: how had she know it was? The doors fit seamlessly in the stone around them and the stone looked deceptively thin, discarding the possibility that anything could be inside it. Since the rest of the prison was underground there were no signs of any kind, and since the guards were androids like Blakk said they had no need to leave or reason to do so. The dark haired girl led him a secluded spot a good distance away from the doors. She pulled back the natural curtain of leaves and vines, they were in a jungle like cavern, and revealed the mechas. Lucky was there and Eli felt relieved to see something familiar that wasn't nightmare distorted. He looked at her mecha: it was a snow leopard or tiger, it had a similar base design as Lucky and there were many similarities, but it was defiantly feline. "Come on we just have to ride a little ways until we get to the safe place I set up, then you can collapse" she told him walking over to her mecha. Eli nodded, too exhausted to speak. She helped him onto Lucky and then mounted her own, and the two of them raced off along a trail far away from that prison.

THE END (This time for real)

Alright this is all I have for this now. I think that I will continue with this if people review and like it. If you do see any grammatical errors, please let me know so I can fix them, just be nice about it, none of this 'your grammar sucks' deal, because I can tell you it does not. So show me some love and I will show you some Slugterra! Just don't be creepy about it, seriously


	2. Chapter 2 - Identity

The Girl from the Unknown by The Lady of Dragons

I would like to start by saying thanks to all the people that have faved, followed, or reviewed my story so far. I was surprised at how many people liked it and how fast I got results, so in thanks here's an extra long chapter just for you! So thanks and keep reviewing!

Chapter 2: Identity

Part 1: The dark haired Mystery

Eli slowly came to. He panicked for a moment when he could not remember where he was or how he got there. Then he was just confused. It was the middle of the night; the crackling of a fire alerted him to the presence of another person. Then it all came back to him at once, he remembered Blakk capturing him, the Frightgiest slug that had sent him into that waking nightmare state, the mysterious girl with green eyes who had saved him. He remembered how they had ridden for a while until she had told him to stop. Too tired to argue, he had done as she asked and the two of them had set up camp for the night. She had told him to sleep, saying that she would keep watch so he needn't worry. He had curled up with Burpy in the sleeping bag he always kept in Lucky's saddle bags, and gone straight to sleep, his first peaceful night's sleep in a long time. He sat up slowly and looked around him. Sure enough, the girl from before sat on the ground next to the fire. She appeared not to notice he was awake and continued to stare into the fire intently, arms wrapped around her knees which were drawn close to her body. He took this opportunity to study her more closely: She had long black hair tied in a high ponytail, and even from where he was he could see that it had slight waves to it, some of it hung in front of her face obscuring her right eye and the right side of her face completely, unfortunately for him, her right side was facing him so he couldn't see much of her face at the moment, he remembered her dark green eyes, dark like the deepest part of a forest, mysterious but kind. He would never forget those eyes. Since he could not see anymore of her face, he focused on her clothes: she wore a dark blue slug slinger jacket with black designs that went down a bit past her elbows, it had a zipper on the front that was zipped half way and he saw that underneath it she wore a white and light grey shirt. Her pants were black and her boots were similar to his but they were midnight blue instead of black. _**(AN: I have some pictures or will have them soon, of her on my deviant art account SharrdriderofVulken so if you want to see her look me up, not an advertisement, just a suggestion) **_Her blaster was similar to his as well. He guessed that it might have also been made by Redhook. It was dark blue like her jacket, had jagged green markings on the barrel and hung on a clip on her dark grey belt. She wore goggles on her head and he could see a string of some sort around her neck that attached to something he could not see.

"It's rude to stare you know" she said quietly, making him jump

"Sorry" he said

"I guess you're feeling better?" she asked, not looking lifting her gaze from the fire

"Yeah" he said simply

"So how did you end up in there anyway?" she asked

"Blakk tricked me" he said "Hey wait, I'm the one who should be asking the questions here"

"Alright what do you wanna know?" she asked, surprising him with her readiness to explain herself

"Well you name for starters" he said

"My name is Lyaru" she told him

'_Wow'_ he thought _'Pretty name'_

"Any more questions or are you just going to stare at me again?" she asked bringing him out of his thoughts

"Umm, how did you find me? Why did you save me? And what's you connection to Blakk?" he asked all at once

"I found you because of my slug Dracon. I saved you for a few reasons, the first of those being that it was the right thing to do, and my 'connection with Blakk' is that he nearly destroyed my home cavern when I was 4, so I've been causing trouble for him in many of the same ways you and your gang do" she told him "Speaking of them" she said, finally taking her eyes off the fire "If you're feeling up to it I can take you home"

"I am defiantly up to going home" he said as Burpy climbed onto his shoulder and squeaked happily. Lyaru laughed at the little slug as one of hers climbed onto her shoulder. It looked like a Tazerling

"Who's your little friend Eli?" she asked with a smile, gesturing at Burpy

"Oh, this is Burpy. He's an Infernus slug" he introduced the little slug by holding him out on his hand and showing Burpy to Lyaru. Burpy surprised Eli by jumping onto Lyaru's other shoulder and chattering with the Tazerling "Burpy that's rude, come back here" He scolded the Infernus "Sorry about that, he usually doesn't jump on other people like that"

"Nah, its fine my slugs do it to me all the time" she said stroking Burpy's little head

"Who's your friend?" he asked motioning to the Tazerling

"This is Volt" she said "He helped me get the pass codes for your cell door and that of your slugs. He loves technology, can get just about anything out of a computer" she said petting Volt's little head.

"Well thanks for getting me out of there" Eli said quietly

"None necessary" she said then paused and asked "Eli do you know how long you were in there?"

"No. How long?" he asked bracing himself for the worst, for years to have gone by and all his friends to be dead

"Relax it wasn't years or even a year" she told him, noticing how he tensed up as if expecting a blow

"How long then?" he asked, slightly less afraid of the answer

"Several months" she told him _**(AN: Several, mind you, not seven. There is a difference, just to be clear)**_

"MONTHS!" he shouted

"Yes. I'm sorry that I didn't free you sooner, but I didn't find out where you were for a while" she apologized "Blakk is the only person who knows where that prison is Eli. It took me weeks just to learn what cavern it was in" she explained her face slightly sad

"No, thanks for getting me out at all" he said hastily "Why didn't my friends come looking for me?" he asked suddenly curious

"Blakk told them that he had killed you shortly after you got captured. They still searched everywhere, even turned several caverns upside down, because they didn't believe him at first, but they gave up eventually. They still help people like you all did before and all of them are fine" she reassured him

"Does everyone think I'm dead!" he exclaimed

"No, they just think you're away somewhere on 'Shane business'. That's what your friends told everyone, they didn't want people panicking because they thought they didn't have a Shane protecting them anymore" Lyaru told him

"Well that's a relief" he said "Hey if everyone thought I was gone then why were you still looking for me?" he asked

"As I mentioned before I don't get along well with Dr. Blakk so I keep close tabs on him. When I heard he caught you I wanted to know what he was going to do with you, so I did some hacking and accidentally found the message he sent your friends about you being dead. I thought that was crazier than a Jellyish that shoots fire so I did some more digging and found out that you were still alive" she said

"One more question" he said "Why didn't you tell my friends about that when you found out I wasn't dead?" he asked

"I was going to, but I thought that they would go crazy on Blakk for taking you and storm his citadel. At that point they were ready to go to war on him, so I thought it better if I just tried to find you by myself" Lyaru told Eli

"Ahh. Now it all makes sense" Eli said "An all out war with Blakk would be bad, and in the state they were in, in terms of supplies and support, I'd wager they'd have lost, and everything would have gone bad faster than anyone could react" he murmured

"Alright are you ready to go?" she asked

"Yeah, I really want to get home" he said

"Then roll up your sleeping bag and follow me" she said packing up her own things and dousing the fire with a nearby bucket of water.

The two of them headed off soon after that, on their way to get Eli back to the Hideout and his friends.

Part 2: A reunion and some painful hugs

The two travelers made their way through the caverns of Slugterra in the pre-dawn light that illuminated the caves with a soft grey glow _**(AN: At least I think they have night and day, I just made it that way for special effect so deal with it and don't hate me ok?)**_ Eli was soon exhausted, the cavern they had set up camp in was quite remote, and the cavern he had been held prisoner in even more so. But he said nothing and just kept riding. Lyaru seemed sensed that he was tiring and they stopped for to rest for a while.

"We should be there soon" Eli said, taking a drink of water

"Hmm" Lyaru nodded, agreeing with him. She didn't talk much, but then again she must be tired too, after all she had stayed up all night keeping watch, had ridden just as far as he had and had already ridden the whole way there once before on her way to rescue him.

"We should probably get going" he said standing up. She nodded again and stood also. They mounted their mechas and sped away.

About an hour later they arrived at the Shane Gang Hideout.

"Man it feels so good to be home!" Eli exclaimed, getting off of Lucky and making his way to the door. Lyaru followed him and he opened the door. Everything looked exactly as it had before, except one thing: where were his friends? There was no one in sight, not even a slug.

"Hello?!" Eli called "Is anyone home?"

His answer was the sound of a blaster and a familiar looking Tormato slug shot towards him, transforming into a tornado and completely disorienting him.

"Wait! Hold your fire" He shouted, trying to regain his balance and failing.

"Is that, No it can't be" a familiar voice whispered from around a corner

"Eli! Is that really you?!" asked Trixie, coming out from behind some boxes on the stairs where she had been hiding. She walked down the stairs her eyes wide with disbelief, and Kord came out from around the corner, the same expression on his face.

"Yeah guys it's really me" Eli said with a smile, which turned into a grimace of pain when Trixie and Kord hugged him so tight he thought he heard his spine crack.

"You're alright!" Trixie exclaimed letting him go

"Bro where were you? We looked everywhere and couldn't find a trace of you?" Kord asked, also letting him go

"To be honest I'm not sure where I was. The only reason I'm free is because of her" he said turning around to point at Lyaru, but she was nowhere to be found "Hey, where'd she go?" he asked, puzzled by her sudden disappearance. He could have sworn that she had been right behind him when he had come in.

"Uh, Eli who are you talking about?" asked Kord

"There was a girl with me. She freed me and brought me back here" Eli explained

"Eli you were the only one here. No one else was with you" Trixie told him

"She must have taken off once I came in" he guessed and ran outside to see if her mecha was still there. It was gone, but fresh tracks indicated that she had only left a few minutes ago. He found a note pinned to Lucky's saddle, it read:

_Eli, sorry I didn't stick around for the reunion. I just figured you would want some time to be with your friends and it was getting late. I know you have a lot of questions for me and your friends probably will too, so I will come back tomorrow once you've rested and you can ask me then._

_-Lyaru_

"So did you find anything?" asked Trixie, as she and Kord walked outside.

"Yeah" he said, handing them the note

"So it sounds like we get to meet your mystery rescuer tomorrow" Kord said "She is right about one thing: it's getting late, and you look like you haven't slept in months" he said, noting how worn Eli looked. Eli was about to protest, but thought better of it when he realized that Kord was right. Aside from last night he hadn't slept, _really slept_, in months. Instead he asked "Where is Pronto?" noticing the unusual silence and peacefulness

"Hiding and waiting for us to deal with the 'intruder'. He heard the alarms and panicked thinking that Blakk was coming for us" Trixie said, rolling her eyes

"Yeah, I think he's still under his pillow shaking" Kord agreed

"Well let's give him a little surprise. Then I can sleep" Eli said heading back into the Hideout. After they found Pronto and scared the pants off him with Eli's sudden return, Eli told them as much as he remembered until he go to the part where he had come back to the Hideout. Pronto was thrilled that Eli was alive and insisted that he, pronto molenoid extraordinaire, had been leading the Shane gang to victory time and time again. Everyone rolled their eyes at this, and walked away. Shortly after that, they all went to sleep, and Eli was able to relax for the first time all day. He was finally home and his friends were alright.

Part 3: Answers at last

The next morning he woke up to the sound of arguing and the click of computer keys. Trixie must be looking something up and pronto and Kord must be arguing about something, he decided, then rolled out of bed, got out of his pajamas and headed downstairs to see what all the fuss was about. He was half right: Trixie was at her computer, but she and Kord were the ones arguing, pronto was nowhere to be seen.

"What if she's like Twist?" Kord said

"She could be working for someone else entirely and why would Blakk try the same trick twice?" Trixie replied

"Yeah that may be true, but this is Blakk we're talking about, he's crazy" Kord pointed out

"Hey what are you guys talking about?" asked Eli, walking over to them

Trixie let out a sigh and turned to face him "We were just discussing your mysterious girl" she said

"What about her?" Eli asked

"We think that she might be like Twist or working for someone else" Kord said

"That is a valid point, I actually hadn't thought of that" Eli said, acknowledging their concerns

"That's it?" asked Trixie "You're not gonna blow up on us for suggesting that your new friend's a spy?"

"No" Eli said "Because I think you may be right" at this the two just stared at him, mouths open in shock "Yes, you may be right, it's set up the same way as when we met Twist" he said in response to their shock

"There is one problem with that particular theory" said Pronto, walking in to the kitchen "If your mysterious woman is a spy for Blakk or anyone else, then how did she know where the Hideout was? From what Eli told us, she was the one leading him here, not the other way around. This does not answer the question of how she found us, but who can say for sure?" he said, reaching into the fridge for a large sandwich _**(AN: I would just like to make a point here: There are several episodes in which people other than the Shane gang come to the Hideout, examples of said people: That crazy explorer trying to find 'The Burning World', Twist, but for the purpose of my story he doesn't do the obvious thing and tell Blakk where it is, Dana Por the thief girl who stole the Shadow Clan object that let her vanish into shadows like they do . I think there are others but I can't think of any right now)**_

"He does make a good point" said Kord "As far as we know no one else knows where we are, so how did she?" he asked

"Let me look her up" Trixie volunteered "What was her name again Eli?" she asked

"Lyaru" he told the red head

"Searching…..Ok, I think I found her" Trixie said after a moment "Here: Lyaru Ramara, a local cavern 'vigilante' of sorts, one of the best slingers in all of Slugterra. She rarely participates in tournaments, but demolishes her competition when she does. Says her home cavern of Diosia was almost destroyed by Blakk years ago and that she has never forgiven what he did. So now she causes him all sorts of pain and frustration. They call her 'The Devil's Dragon' or 'The Dark Dragon' and a few have even called her 'The Shadow's Keeper' in connection to a legend local to her home cavern" she read from the screen

"I wonder why they call her 'The Devil's Dragon" wondered Kord

"Yes and let us not forget 'The Shaaaadoww Keeeeper'" Pronto added with is usual over-dramatic emphasis "This mysterious girl had much to answer about herself"

"Yeah, though when I asked her about herself before she was pretty willing to explain herself" Eli said

"Then why don't you just ask her Eli?" suggested Trixie

"Yeah Eli, why don't you just ask her?" asked a voice from somewhere behind them. All four of them jumped and turned around. Lyaru stood behind them with her left eyebrow raised questioningly (her right one being covered by her hair).

"Um excuse me! Ever hear of a doorbell!?" exclaimed Pronto indignantly

"Ever consider getting one?" she retorted flatly

"How did you get in here?" asked Eli

"I walked through the door" she said plainly, giving him a shrug "Someone left it open"

"Oops" muttered Kord and the others turned to stare at him "Well one of Pronto's slugs stunk up the kitchen, so I opened the door to let it air out, and it looks like I forgot to close it…" he trailed off

"So Miss Ramara, who are you really and why did you save Eli?" Trixie asked, suddenly suspicious of the black haired girl.

"I suppose you want the whole story?" she asked, and when Trixie nodded she sighed and said "Well it's a long one so you all might want to sit down"

They all took a seat somewhere: they in chairs and she on the floor with her back against the wall. Once everyone was settled she began her story "It started twelve years ago…."

"My family is closely tied to the Shane family. I was too young at the time to understand anything that was going on, but I remember that not to long after my 4th birthday Dr. Blakk came to town. He had some large machine and was going to destroy all of our homes with us inside of them if we didn't get out fast enough. He didn't have ghouls at the time but he was still a dangerous man. I never did find out why he wanted our cavern so badly, but he did and he almost got away with it. Your father Eli" she said looking at him "Will Shane, he saved us all. He was a great man, more than you can ever know. He saved out town and sent Blakk and all his men packing, then blasted the machine apart. Your father was always visiting my father; I would tell you what they talked about but it is a mystery to me as well, so don't ask. They were always talking and working on different things. This went on for years and years, until Blakk made your father vanish. I will never forgive Blakk for what he did. So I took it upon myself to help protect Slugterra where I could. I have traveled all over the place looking for ways to stop Blakk and have collected a variety of slugs. I have even met the Shadow Clan on a few occasions" she said, pausing for a moment

"Did you survive?" asked Pronto

"What?"

"Did you survive your encounters with the Shadow Clan?" he asked again

"Pronto what do you think happened?" asked Trixie, who was quite irritated with him at this point

"What? I'm just trying to get the story straight" Pronto grumbled

"Pronto, if she didn't survive she wouldn't be here now" Kord told him

"Oh. You are right, that was a stupid question" the molenoid said bashfully

"The Shadow Clan aside, anything else you want to know?" Lyaru asked

"I have a question" said Eli "Is your family still around" he asked, not wanting to say 'alive' in case they weren't

"Yeah, as a matter of fact they are" she told him surprising everyone "I just don't communicate much with them because I'm trying to stay off of Blakk's radar, if you catch my drift. He has never actually seen me to, my knowledge. And I don't want him finding my family if he does know who I am" she explained

"That means I could ask your father about what he and my dad talked about!" Eli exclaimed, having hope of finding answers about his father again for the first time in what felt like forever

"Definitely" she said with a grin

"This is all too good to be true" Kord said suspiciously

"How do you want me to prove I'm not lying?" Lyaru asked the cave troll _**(AN: Alright I know there is a similarity between her name and the word 'lie' or 'lying' but that was not intentional and does not mean that she is lying to them, but she certainly has some secrets she is not sharing with them, hint hint!) **_

"Oh! Oh! Pronto knows!" the molenoid said jumping up and down excitedly

"Well out with it" said Trixie

"Pronto believes that he may have an old molenoid Lie Detector somewhere in his things. If you will give me a moment I shall see if I can locate it" he said walking up the stairs. Several crashes and a couple of banging sounds came from the direction of his room as he dug through things. He returned triumphantly a minute later, holding some strange metal object with lots of lights on it. "Ok so you just speak into this and it will tell us if you are lying or not" Pronto explained "So we will ask you questions and you will answer"

"We should test it first" suggested Kord

"Ok" said Eli "My mecha is purple" he said into the little device. it whirred and lit up red, a sign that he was lying

"Pronto is the most magnificent molenoid to walk the caverns of Slugterra!" Pronto declared proudly. Again the device lit up red "But I was telling the truth" he protested, only to be answered by yet another red flash form the detector.

"I think we've determined that it works" said Kord. It lit up green, as if agreeing with him

"Alright then, ask away" Lyaru said calmly

"Are you working for Blakk or a spy for anyone else? Or do you plan on betraying us at any point" asked Trixie

"No" she said, the detector lit up green

"Are you going to hurt us and or attack us?" Eli asked

"No, unless you give me a really good reason to defend myself" she answered. Again green

"Why do some call you 'The Shaaadow Keeeeeper'?" Pronto asked

"Because they think I'm part of some ancient story about the Keeper of Shadows and the Keeper of Light" Still green.

"Why did you free Eli" asked Kord. He already knew what Eli had gotten as an answer before but he wanted to hear it for himself

"Several reasons: One of those was that it was the right thing to do, another that I owe the Shane family more than I can ever repay for saving my cavern and family so I figured this was the least I could do, I really just wanted to help stop Blakk." at each statement the detector lit up green "So anything else?" she asked

"Nope" Trixie replied

"I got nothing" Eli shrugged

"I'm good too" said Kord

"I will let you know if I think of anything else" Pronto said

"Ok then, if it's alright with you I'm going to leave. I have other things I have to do. I have other things that need to be done so I need to go" she said standing

"Wait!" exclaimed Pronto "I have one last question: How did you know where our Hideout was?"

"Oh that? I used to come here all the time with my dad" she said with a wave of her hand "Remember how Eli's father used to visit mine? Well we used to come and visit him too. I have to go. If you want I can come by later" she offered

"Guys?" asked Eli

"Sure" said Trixie. Now that they had determined that Lyaru was not a traitor or a spy, she was more than happy about having another girl around. She liked Lyaru already

"Why not" agreed Kord

"Then I'll see you later" Lyaru said, and walked out of the Hideout.

**END OF CHAPTER 2**

**But certainly not the end of the story! Please review and tell me if you like my story! If you have any suggestions for other chapters I would be happy to hear them, as long as they are APPROPRIATE!**** The more I get reviews, the sooner I will post new chapters, because your review motivate me. ****  
**


	3. Chapter 3 - Busy Day

The Girl from the Unknown by The Lady of Dragons

Chapter 3: Busy day

Part 1- Beasts forged in fire

"Wait! Where are you going?" Eli called after Lyaru as she walked out to her mecha.

"Oh sorry, I forgot to tell you. I work sometimes at the beast forge for Grendle" she said turning around to face the Shane

"Really?" asked Kord, suddenly interested, having followed them outside

"Yeah" she said with a smile

"What if someone asks about me?" Eli said suddenly "Lyaru told me that you guys had told people I was away on 'Shane business' Should we tell people I'm back?"

"He makes a good point" said Trixie

"Pronto says we should not tell anyone and use this to our advantage so we can surprise Doctor Blakk" the molenoid added his input

"Actually, he may be right" Lyaru said "I won't tell anyone about Eli, unless there's someone you want me to tell?" she asked tentatively

"If you're going to the beast forge, you could tell Grendle. After all, he figured out that you weren't on a trip Eli and we told him what we thought at the time: that you were dead" said Kord "Is that alright with you guys if we tell him?" he asked, turning to his teammates

"For sure, no reason that he should think I'm dead, he is our friend" said Eli and that was that. Lyaru headed off to the beast forge to meet Grendle.

She arrived less than twenty minutes later and was greeted welcomingly by Grendle "Lya, my friend! Good to see you!" the large cave troll said as she rode up on her mecha "I haven't seen you around in a while. How is your Astra-1 treating you these days?" he asked referring to the model of her white tiger mecha

"Hi Grendle" she said with a smile "Astral is just fine thanks for asking, and I've just been busy lately. Speaking of which, before you tell me what I can help with around the forge, I need to speak with you in private"

"Alright then, follow me. We can talk privately in my office" he said and walked into the building, she right behind him. When they arrived at his office he closed the shades and made sure that the door was secured. "What did you need to talk to me about?" he asked looking at the dark haired girl questioningly

"Do you remember when Eli was taken by Dr. Blakk and you and the Shane gang thought he was dead?"

He nodded, not questioning how she knew something like that. Somehow she always seemed to know.

"Well he's not" Lyaru said quietly.

"WHAT?!" Grendle bellowed. Had the room not been sound proof, everyone in the forge would have heard him.

She had anticipated his reaction and hissed "Keep it down!" at him

"He's alive? Does Blakk have him? Where?" he asked in a rush

"Yes he's alive, and Blakk _had _him in some far off cavern" she answered. Her slight emphasis on 'had' was not lost on the cave troll

"So he's free and alright?" Grendle asked still in shock

"Yes"

"And I assume you freed him" it was not a question

"He is back with his friends at their Hideout" she reassured him. A wide smile slowly crept across his face and the fire was back in his eyes. He had missed the little Shane boy "But we have to keep it a secret for now" Lyaru reminded him sternly

"Then how come you told me?" he asked

"Because they asked me to" was her simple answer

"It is good to know Eli is alright" the cave troll sighed

"Yes it is. Now why don't you show me what I can help with around here?" she said leading the huge cave troll out of his office. After several hours full of hard work fixing mecha beasts Lyaru had finished for the day and was about to head back to the Hideout when Grendle stopped her

"Leaving for today?"

"Yep"

"Is there any chance you would happen to see Kord today? Because I've got some new parts for him" Grendle said

"I don't mind bringing them to him at all Grendle" she replied to his unasked question. She took the package from him, hopped onto Astral and headed off to see the Shane gang.

Part 2 – Twisted connection

Lyaru was riding back to the Shane Hideout when she suddenly stopped and dismounted. One of her slugs, Volt, chattered worriedly from her shoulder, it sensed something as well.

"Hello Twist" she said calmly, her eyes closed

"Heh. Still as sharp as ever Lya" said Twist, appearing suddenly behind her

"What do you want" she asked coldly "I haven't heard from you in two years, why the sudden visit? Finally got sick of Blakk ordering you around?" her tone shifted to one that was slightly mocking

"No" he sneered "I just wanted to say hi"

"You and I both know that you never just drop by to say hi" she told him, her eyes still closed

"Come on, can't I just come to tell my girl hello once in a while" he said with a dark chuckle

"We've been over this Twist: I don't like you and I never will!" she said, sighing exasperatedly

"So you say Lya, but I still like teasing you" he laughed. His statement was met with an angry growl from Lyaru, and she lashed out with her left foot, but instead of striking out behind her, she swept her foot up and around slashing at the air to her right.

"Ooof!" she caught the real Twist right in the stomach with her booted foot, his illusion double behind her vanished and he became visible as he clutched at his gut. "Definitely as sharp as ever" he wheezed

"Now Spill, and preferably not your guts" she said looking at him disgustedly

"I meant what I said before. I just wanted to see you and say hi. I just wanted to make sure you were ok" he muttered, still trying to get his breath back. She kicked hard.

"Then I'm out of here" she said mounting Astral and riding away

Twist watched her go "One of these days, Lya my dear, one of these days…" he chuckled, and then went off to wherever he had come from

Part 3 – Shane gang on patrol, maybe….

Lyaru returned to the Hideout and walked up to the still-open door 'They really should close that' she thought to herself. Sharking off the memory of her recent encounter with Twist she walked through the door _**(AN: The reason I have the door open is 1 – I think it would be awkward for her to have to open the door herself, and 2 – it added dramatic effect in the first scene where she showed up at the hideout) **_

"Welcome back" Trixie said when she saw the other girl enter, being the only one on the main floor of the base

"Hello Trixie" Lyaru said with a smile, "Where are the others? I have a package for Kord that Grendle sent with me-" at the mention of his name and the words 'package' and 'Grendle' Kord came pelting in to the main room so fast it looked like he had been shoot out of a blaster at velocity

"Did you say package?" he asked, skidding to a halt and rubbing his hands together excitedly

"Um, yes I did" Lyaru said giving the tall cave troll a strange look "Here" she handed him Grendle's package "Grendle asked me to take it to you on my way out of the forge. How did you manage to hear that from wherever you were anyway?"

"Oh we cave trolls have excellent hearing…sometimes" he said with a grin

"Aha…" Lyaru said uncertainly

"That aside" said Trixie "You can come in if you want to. You don't have to stand in the doorway" she said leading Lyaru to the kitchen and telling her to sit down

"Thanks" Lyaru replied, her legs had been getting sore after standing all day in the forge "So where are Eli and Pronto?" she asked again

"Eli is asleep, and I think Pronto is too" Kord said sitting in the chair to Lyaru's right. Trixie followed and sat next to him.

Uneasy silence filled several minutes while the three of them just sat trying not to look at each other, and succeeding for the most part. Kord and Trixie were unsure of what to do, they knew that she wasn't a traitor or a liar and she seemed nice enough, but it had been so long since they had had company. Lyaru was not sure what she was supposed to do, she had been alone with her slugs traveling from place to place to fight Blakk for so long and it wasn't like she was invited over to people's houses often or ever for that matter. Was she supposed to say something or would that be too pushy? Should she ask how 'things' were going or would that be strange?

"So…." Kord started "What kind of slugs do you have?"

"Lots. Would you like to see them?"

"Sure"

"Ok" Lyaru stood and pulled off her bandolier revealing a large number of sleepy slugs in the little semi-transparent tubes _**(AN: Are they called tubes? Or maybe capsules? If anyone knows what they're actually called please let me know and I will correct myself) **_"Come on out" she told the little creatures. They climbed out and scooted across the table. "This is Volt (Tazerling), Ricochet (Speed Stinger) Medic (Boon Doc) Webs (Arachenet) Crossfire (Flaringo) Razor (Thresher) Sticky (Jellyish) Smash (Armashelt) Icicle (Frost Crawler) and the rest are at home"

"Cool" Kord replied

"Hang on you missed one" Trixie noticed that one of the tubes still had a dark shape in it

"So I did" Lyaru agreed. She tapped the tube lightly trying to catch the attention of the slug inside "Wake up Dracon"

"Dracon? What kind of slug is that?" Kord asked puzzled

"Not a type of slug, that's his name. He's a Draco slug"

"A Draco slug? Never head of that kind before" Trixie said

"Most haven't" Lyaru said, gently pulling capsule off its clip "I think he's the last one. Maybe, though I'm not sure. My bet is that he's just the only one left in the inhabited caverns and that the rest of the Draco slugs are deep underground somewhere" she tapped the tube/capsule again and a little slug popped out of the capsule. _**(AN: Ok now that I've written it out a few times I'm pretty sure that they are capsules, though if you know they're called something else or have suggestions for what I should call them in the future please don't hesitate to tell me)**_ He was bright red, with pale blue and green horns and spines. He had small midnight blue wings and spiked patters of the same color on his tiny stomach _**(AN: Ok does anyone else think that 'tiny stomach' sounds hilarious and kind of adorable?) **_along with a white stripe that seemed to go under the spikes. His eyes were an iridescent light blue and he had a tail.

"Wow!" Trixie exclaimed "He doesn't look like any slug I've seen before. Where did you find him?" she asked looking at the suddenly silent Lyaru

Lyaru gave a sigh "To be honest with you I don't know where he came from. Eli's dad found him on one of his patrol trips and brought him to my dad. He was kinda sick and messed up. We never found out why"

"That's amazing!" Kord said

"What's amazing?" asked a sleepy voice from the stairs. They all turned around to find Eli walking down the stairs.

"Oh sorry Eli, we didn't realize you were up. Otherwise I would have told you Lyaru was back" Trixie said as he sat down at the table.

"Its fine, I just got up anyway. So what's so amazing anyway?" he asked, Burpy on his shoulder.

"Look at Lyaru's slug" Kord said, peering more closely at the miniature dragon on the table in front of him. Dracon turned obligingly to let the cave troll get a closer look and even allowed himself to be picked up, much to Lyaru's surprise.

"He almost never lets anyone else touch him" she told them

"I guess we must be special then" Eli said

"You certainly are" Lyaru agreed, shaking her head thoughtfully.

"Hmm? What did you say?" he asked to busy staring at Dracon to pay attention to what she had said.

"Oh nothing" she dismissed

"Don't mind him" Trixie said kindly "He just loves slugs"

"So I gathered" she told Trixie with a friendly wink. Suddenly Kord's stomach rumbled loudly. They all laughed and Trixie stood

"It is about dinner time isn't it?" she declared

"Yeah I could go for some food" Eli said

"I should go" Lyaru said, making as if to leave

"You can stay if you want" Trixie said

"Yeah I've got no complaints" Kord agreed. Eli just nodded

"Alright then, would you like a hand Trixie?" Lyaru offered

"I'd appreciate it, thanks"

Kord and Eli talked about slugs while they helped with dinner while the girls just rolled their eyes.

"And people say girls are the talkative ones" Trixie whispered to Lyaru, causing the other girl to giggle.

"They don't know Eli and Kord then do they" she replied. At some point Pronto joined them, awakened by the scent of food. They all ate and shared stories for a bit, and when it got late and people started dozing off Lyaru left without anyone realizing, since they had all fallen asleep.

"Time to go Dracon" she whispered softly, calling to her slug. He shrugged and flapped up to her shoulder, the other slugs following his lead and climbing into their capsules. Burpy was still awake and waved to them from Eli's shoulder as they left. Dracon waved back, the two had become fast friends and had spent a good amount of time jumping from perch to perch on the slug home in the hideout. She walked outside and closed the door, then she mounted Astral and rode away.

Several hours later back at the Hideout, Eli woke up from a very strange dream, he looked around and not seeing Lyaru stood up to see if she was still there. Nope, she was gone. 'Dang it' he thought 'Why does she always have to disappear like that?! Seriously I just want a chance to talk with her alone when I'm not half comatose' he lightly smacked his forehead in frustration. Then he decided to go back to sleep but in his actual bed, he had an awful crick in his neck from sleeping in a chair. He would have woken the others for the same reason but they looked comfortable so he let them be and went upstairs. He sat in a chair by his window and looked out across the darkened landscape. He squinted seeing something in the distance, he looked harder and saw a small object flying slowly towards him and was shocked to see a Hoverbug slug soar up to his window. There was a message tied around its leg, he untied it and the slug popped back into miniature form. The message read as follows:

_I'll drop by later. See you tomorrow_

_-Lyaru_

_P.S. Just sling Glider, he knows where to find me and can get back on his own. _

He read the short message a few times, then stood and grabbing his blaster and the Hoverbug, who he assumed was Glider, went to the window and fired the slug out of it. He laid back on his bed and contemplated the last few days. 'Well tomorrow is sure to be interesting, that's for sure' he thought before drifting off to sleep.

**End of Chapter 3 - Busy day**

**I would just like to apologize for taking so long to update this, I was not having writer's block, I just got inspired for some chapters for another story and had to write them down before I forgot about them. And I would like to thank the many people who have read and those that have reviewed my story for all the positive feedback I've been getting! I really appreciate all the support! Keep on reviewing and I'll keep on writing, deal?**


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